Method of and apparatus for curling hair



Aug. 6, 1929. P. E. wou.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CURLING HAIR Filed Nov. 3, 1925 drum teeth 7 through the opening in an even layer to the conveyor belt 19 carried over the rollers 20 and 21; a guard 22 being disposed between the drum and the end of the belt. The lap of deposited hairs is compressed in thickness by spring pressed compression rollness or depth and somewhat expanded in width by pairs of springpressed compression rollers 27, 28, 27, 28 suitably geared together by gearing 29 and rotated from the sprocketchain 29 driven byfa, sprocket gear 30 on the shaft of the roller 21. I

Converging guide walls 31 and 32, which may be made adjustable, again ,constrict in width "the lap flattened, by the compression rollers 27, 28, 27 28 and the constricted lap is again compressed between thespring pressed roller 34'and the roller21. Therollor 34 is connected with the roller 21 by suitable gearing and the shaft of the roller 21 has I on one end thereof a gear 35 and on the other end a gear 35cmeshing with a pinion 36 on a cone pulley 37 driven through the belt 38, cone pulley 39, sprocket chain 40, pulley 41 and be1t42. I V The lap, compressed in thickness andexpanded in-width by the action of the rollers 21 and 34 is again constricted in width by guide plates 42 and 43 ,which may be made adjustable. The resulting ribbon of hair is fed between superposed endless belts 44,and 45, thebelt 44 being carried and translated by rolls 47 and 48, connected by endless bands 46', and the belt being carried. and trans lated by the rollers 47 and 48- The rollers 48, 48 are connected together by suitable gearing thereon; the rollers 47, 47' are connected together by suitable gearing and the roller .47 is driven from the gear 35, through an idler 35 I ,The rollers 47 and 48 are journalled in I stringers 49 so that the upper traveling belt 44 may be turned about the axis of the shaft 47 to raise one end thereof and give access to the spacebetween these belts'44 and 45, whose adjacent surfaces travel in the same direction andare adjustable relatively to one another in the block 50 and pressed by adjustable weights 53, and 54 against the ribbon of hair withsufiicient force to restrict and substantially prevent rotation thereof.

The ribbon or strand of hair projecting from the condenser 50 is twisted into rope by rotatable spinning apparatus 55 having a hollow tube or spindle 56 journallcd in bearings 57 and driven through suitable gearing 58 from a pinion 59 detachably connected with the shaft 60 to permit substitution of pinions of different diameters and thereby vary the number of turns in the rope per unit of length. The shaft 60 is connected through the pulley 61, belt 62, and pulley 63 with the driving shaft 15 On emerging from the end 64 of the tube 56, the rope is bent transversely and passes over journalled capstans 65 rotated by gears 66.

A spool or reel 67 is detachably mounted on the spindle 68 and latched to a rotating flier or frame 69 which is journalled in the bearings 69 and rotated through suitable gearing 70 from the shaft 60. The spool is rotatable by the flier about an axis coincident with or substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the tube 56 and of the section of hair being twisted. A distributor 71 is reciprocable axially along the spool by usual automatic feeding and reversing mechanism 72 and feeds the rope from the capstans to the spool in parallel loops.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that I have provided hair curling apparatus whereby matted hair placed in a layer of substantially constant depth and width on the apron 9 is combed and cleaned by the toothed drum 3 and deposited in a passage way having a plurality of contracted throats constricting the width of the hair layer carried therethrough by the travelling conveyor 19. Compressing rolls are positioned adjacent to each throat to compress the thickness and expand the width of the travelling lap, which is finally condensed to small cross sectional area by passage through the condenser 50. The twisting of the lap is localized by the action of the blocks 51 and the wound rope is bent and drawn over the capstans and through the distributor by the rotating spool. When one spool is filled, it is removed and replaced by anempty spool. The rope wound on the spool is subsequently twisted further so as to form buttons and steamed or baked to set the curl therein, after which the rope is disintegrated into its fibres, which retain their curl and springy condition.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. The method of curling hair which comprises combing the fibres and centrifugally separating lumps or extraneous matter therefrom, depositing the fibres in a lap, repeatedly compressing the thickness and thereafter constricting the width of the lap, twisting a section of the lap into a rope, bending the rope transversely to the axis of the twisting section, and coiling the rope about 

